EMU Land Acknowledgement 

A land acknowledgment is a statement that recognizes a place where Indigenous Peoples have lived historically and continue to live today. It recognizes the importance of confronting the often-violent history that forced them from that land. These living words recognize the need for ongoing dialogue with tribal communities to acknowledge those harms and to seek further repair. In the spirit of truth-telling, justice and reconciliation, we offer the following land acknowledgement as it pertains to EMU’s location: 

What we call the Shenandoah Valley has been a home to many generations of humans. The first ones among us became groups we call Siouan, Monacan, Monahoac, Catawba, and Cherokee. We acknowledge the violence of land taken and used in ways that have kept Indigenous groups from thriving here. We commit ourselves to honor them and this watershed through care for creation and sharing of God’s good gift of land that is for all.

Our Commitments 

EMU envisions living rightly and reparatively with the land, with Indigenous Peoples and all life on this land, and the Creator from whom life and land come. As we journey towards this vision, EMU commits to education, truth-telling, responding to calls for solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, and connecting the work of repair with creation care and climate justice.